Na Fianna beaten at Nowlan Park

No complaints was the reaction of Na Fianna manager Ger Slevin after his side's 1-11 to 3-17 defeat by Dunnamaggin in the Leinster Club JHC final today.

"We were beaten by a better team and we can have no complaints on that front," he commented.

Na Fianna gave it their best shot, but were unable to sustain the intensity of the opening quarter against a strong Kilkenny side at Nowlan Park today.

Na Fianna made the best possible start and were ahead by 0-5 to 0-1 at the end of the first-quarter, but Kilkenny champions Dunnamaggin dug deep and fashioned goals from Ronan Coffey and John Fitzpatrick to get back into contention.

The Kilkenny men were ahead by 2-6 to 0-7 at the interval with the points from Coffey (three),Thomas Maher (two frees) and Fitzpatrick.

Battling Na Fianna stayed in touch with three Barry Slevin points, two from Peter Slevin and one each by Jonathan McCloskey and Ethan Devine.

Coffey added a third goal for Dunnamaggin soon after the resumption and that left Na Fianna facing a mammoth task for the remainder.

There was a brief glimmer of hope for Na Fianna when Barry Slevin's long-range free found thenet at the three-quarter stage, but the hosts    were more than equal to the challenge.

Full report and reaction in Tuesday evening's Chronicle.

VIDEO CLIP OF CLOSING MINUTES